Erawan Is To Thai For!

My kitchen to me, is kind of like the sugar to my burger, the fork to my soup, the tomato sauce to my sushi and the pickles to my ice cream. The point that I’m trying to make is that it’s totally useless, especially since I have discovered Erawan – my new favourite Thai restaurant which recently opened its doors in Bedfordview. This place is the real deal … and I’d go so far as to say that once you have eaten at Erawan, you would be hard pressed to try any other Thai restaurant.

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If the name Erawan sounds familiar, it’s probably because you’ve heard about the hugely successful branches in Cape Town, or because the restaurant is named after a well-known shrine and museum in Bangkok that is highly revered by the Thai people. In a nutshell, Erawan is a combo of fine dining and Asian persuasion at its best. The décor is authentic and the super friendly staff are decked out in traditional dress. As for the food, it is prepared by 5 star Thai chefs under the watchful eye of head chef, Pachanuwat Nuthong (otherwise known as Chef Wat). Erawan prides itself in using fresh, healthy ingredients and dishing up meals that are low in calories and high in flavour.

Anticipating a host of crowd-pleasers on the menu, I brought my boyfriend, Evan, along – and we both brought along our very hungry tummies. For starters we tucked into dumplings (R48) filled with tender steamed chicken served with soya sauce and their special spicy chilli sauce. Of course, we had to try the vegetarian dumplings too – filled with spinach and cream cheese (R51) – they were delicious. Next up, sushi … lots and lots of sushi. The salmon roses and salmon rainbow rolls topped with caviar were super fresh … frankly, when sushi is this good, you can be forgiven for forgetting the rest of the food pyramid.

For mains, Ev ordered the Penang Curry (R98) with chicken, coconut milk, peanut butter, red and green peppers, lime leaves and a side dish of egg fried rice (R22). I ordered the Crispy Duck (R195) – half a deboned duck served on a bed of fresh veggies in their special oyster sauce with mushrooms, chilli, garlic and herbs with a side of egg fried noodles (R22). These fragrantly spiced dishes with a complexity of flavours (think a balancing act of hot, sweet, sour and salty) hit the sweet spot and are true to the East. Ev and I might have spent a good 15 minutes debating who had the better dish…

If you still have space for something sweet (and if you don’t, make space!) there are plenty of yummy looking dessert options on the menu. Ev and I shared the dark chocolate spring rolls served with vanilla ice cream (R49). Next time I go, I definitely want to try Sa Ku – a Thai style jelly with coconut milk (R49), or the pineapple fritters (R48), or the … oh who am I kidding, I’ll probably end up trying everything on the menu at some stage … for research purposes, of course!

The pics are from the media launch where we we treated to a scrumptious Thai experience … from then on, I was hooked! Erawan is open from 11am until 10pm, seven days a week.